Would you hold an estate sale yourself vs. hiring a company?

cinnamonsworldNovember 4, 2007

I posted a longer question under the organizing a home forum, but generally am wondering pros and cons of holding estate sale yourself with a savvy friend or two vs. hiring a company? (For a 3-bed home with no antiques.)

I know how much work a plain old rummage sale is ! My opinion is , if you have no antiques and a couple friends , do it yourselves. I have heard alot of bad things about those people that do it for you . More bad than good. I don't know what they charge , but for me - I'd rather be in charge than a stranger.

***On a funny note *** When DH & I decide it's time to downsize ... I told him I'm going to hold my OWN estate sale while I'm still alive ...a " You can't take it with you sale " LOL

You don't have to be deceased to hold an estate sale. A lot of people dispose of their household goods in order to spend their later years traveling or merely just to downsize considerably to move to another state.

I would do it myself. I have gone to estate sales and was never impressed with the professionalism of these estate sale arrangers.

I also have known people who used them and there was always> a problem with *missing items*.

I don't know about estate sales, but garage sales are a ton of work. All the lifting, arranging,pricing. Then you have to sit there all day and deal with hagglers and thieves. You have to have plenty of change. I did better off advertising things privately in a local newspaper. For example, I sold an Electrolux vacuum cleaner and a portable clothes washer after they were ignored during a garage sale. I would leave the sales to the professionals in the future. My 84 year old mother already has a contract to sell the contents of her house after she dies. I'm a little sad. There are some things I would like ,for sentimental reasons, photos and knick-knacks, not like I want to grab all her jewelry.

Are you thinking of holding it like a 'tag' sale as Martha always calls them. You have all the stuff priced and folks come, browse, dicker (probably) and buy? If that is the case, I'd think it would be a lot of work, and that you would end up with quite a bit of leftovers at the end of the day.

I'd suggest talking to some auction houses and see what they say. Possibly they could have the auction at the house...and they are good at advertising, and getting the word out. They want to get the best prices they can because that will determine their profit as well.

Estate sales held at the actual residence really draw the crowds in around here in Indiana....all hoping to find/get something really special.

Anything that is small and/or more special, I would however either pay attention to, or ask the auctioneer to hold aside someway to protect said items from walking off. Even if you do it yourselves, chances are there would be some things pilfered behind your back(s).

In our neck of the woods, professional sellers take a healthy cut, but if that's the only way to go, they have their place. I also know how much work sales are, having had a couple myself. But if you have friends to help, I would recommend this avenue. You need 3-4 just to monitor all the stuff, if the sale is being held all thru the house. I went to a sad one last fall. A lady was moving to assisted living and her children were holding the sale. She was present and visibly disturbed at the prices that things were going for. We all think our treasures are worth more than they really are, for the simple reason that to some people, our things are valuable because they are ours. I'd steel myself to get rid of the stuff at a fair price and then maybe donate the rest and take a tax deduction.

Even sadder than an estate sale is when people just throw stuff away. A few months ago, I drove past a house and saw an electric sewing machine and rocking chair in the street with the trash. I was in a hurry and didn't stop. But they looked okay.